Jean-Pierre Marielle is dead : the actor has died, his wife Agathe in mourning

Jean-Pierre Marielle is death. Giant of the cinema and the theater to the kindliness, the sense of mischief and banter delicious, the actor died on April 24, 2019 at the age of 87 years, he had reached twelve days earlier. The eye that frieze, the smile that coaxes the voice that envelope, the phlegm that penetrates and the meter 85 which imposes to have left the scene, in a reverence discreetly revealed with affliction by the last wife of the actor, Agathe Natanson (72 years old).

“Agathe Marielle has the sadness to announce that her husband, the actor Jean-Pierre Marielle, died April 24, at 16h24, at the hospital of the Four Cities to St. Cloud, following a long illness. The funeral will be held in the most strict intimacy“, stated the actress, who had lovingly shared the boards with him in 2014, for a jubilee to two in Love Letters at the Théâtre Antoine. Marielle, 60 years of theatre – and a tony in 1994 – behind him from the Paris Conservatory (where he was bound for life with his friends Jean Rochefort, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Annie Girardot), had not played since 2010, but had found a good reason to do it again : “The only thing that pleases in all this, it is to be on stage with my wife !“, was felt it at the time, with his verve blaring, eleven years after their wedding of florence. Since then, we had briefly regained the unforgettable “Mr. de Sainte Colombe” (All the mornings of the world Alain Corneau, 1991) in the film A quiet time of Patrice Leconte (2014) and in front of the camera by Josée Dayan in the soap opera of success, Captain Marleau (2016). One of his last public appearances, with Agatha at his side, as is often the case, had taken place there two years now, in march 2017, on the occasion of the gala Childhood Uppercase. Jean-Pierre Marielle was also the father of a boy from his second marriage (with Catherine-Françoise Burette), François-Arthur.

Son of an industrialist, Georges Marielle, and a seamstress, Josette Coulbois, Jean-Pierre Marielle was having an early passion for the theatre, and had built the Conservatory of the White street after his years of high school. The famous “band of the Conservatory” that was formed at the time, he remains today, after the death of Bruno Cremer (2010), Annie Girardot (2011), Claude Rich (2017) and Jean Rochefort (2017), only a few representatives (Belmondo, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Pierre Vernier, Françoise Fabian…).

After starting oscillating between cinema and cabaret, Jean-Pierre Marielle reveals itself in the 1960s in secondary comic roles high in color, Made jump the bank and The Devil by the tail. A comic talent irresistible that will continue to express itself throughout his career : Sex-shop (Claude Berri, 1972), The Suitcase and On aura tout vu (Georges Lautner, 1973 and 1976), How to succeed when one is an idiot and cry-baby (Michel Audiard, 1974), Cause toujours… tu me interested ! (Edouard Molinaro, 1979), or, in the 1990s, the croquignolet The Grand-Dukes, with its great friends Jean Rochefort and Philippe Noiret.

Even if this facet of his art, well in phase with his aura warm and his sense of humour delicious, it has a figure extremely popular with the public, are undoubtedly his dramatic roles, a deep, sometimes overwhelming, that marked the spirits : the party begins and Coup de torchon (Bertrand Tavernier, 1974 and 1981), The Galettes de Pont-Aven (Joel Seria, 1975), A time of delusion (Claude Berri, 1977), The month of April are murderers (Laurent Heynemann, 1987), Few days with me (Claude protestant redemption church, 1988), All the mornings of the world, The Souls of the grey (Yves Angelo, 2005)… A work hailed by the seven nominations for the César, but never winning. “I have nothing to fuck, I’m not an actor for the raffle. The important thing is in front of the camera. It is to serve a author, find a new one“, struck there on this subject, do away forever with this conception of his job. “The rewards, it does not interest me. The only reward is when the public pass a good time“, emphasized it again in 2014. The one that the public now lives, orphan of such a character, is far from the best, but with over a hundred films and one will be indelible in the way of a legacy, it is not likely to forget. Even in grief, his voice placidly cavernous reaches us, comforting…